Hedge funds delivered a third consecutive month of positive performance in June, with global macro and equity strategies leading returns, while investor appetite remained robust as the industry recorded another month of net inflows, according to Citco’s latest monthly hedge fund report.
Funds administered by Citco generated a weighted average return of 2.4% during June, making it the industry’s third strongest month of 2026. More than half of all funds (56.9%) posted positive returns, allowing hedge funds to end the second quarter firmly in positive territory.
Global macro managers topped the performance rankings with an average return of 3.0%, closely followed by equity strategies at 2.9%. Fixed income arbitrage funds returned 2.6%, while event-driven and multi-strategy funds gained 2.2% and 1.8% respectively. Commodity-focused managers were the only major strategy to post losses, declining 2.3% during the month.
Performance continued to favour the industry’s largest managers. Funds overseeing more than $3bn of assets under administration returned 3.1% on a weighted average basis, outperforming medium-sized peers. By contrast, managers with between $200m and $500m of assets, as well as those managing less than $200m, both generated negative returns for the month.
Investor demand also remained resilient. Citco recorded net inflows of $13.6bn during June, generated by $35.1bn of subscriptions, extending the industry’s run of positive monthly flows throughout 2026. Year-to-date net inflows have now reached $70.4bn across funds administered by the firm.
Multi-strategy funds continued to dominate fundraising, attracting $9.1bn of net new capital during June and bringing first-half inflows to $43.4bn. Hybrid strategies also enjoyed strong investor demand with $7.2bn of net subscriptions, while equity strategies experienced the largest net redemptions, losing $2bn over the month.
The biggest managers remained the primary beneficiaries of investor allocations. Funds managing more than $10 billion attracted $9.4bn of net inflows during June, lifting their year-to-date total to $54.4bn. Managers overseeing between $1bn and $10bn also recorded positive flows, while funds with less than $1bn of assets experienced modest net outflows.
Regionally, Europe attracted the strongest investor demand with $7.8bn of net inflows, ahead of the Americas at $5.4bn and Asia at $400m.
Beyond investment performance, Citco reported record operational activity across its platform. Treasury teams processed 72,085 payments during June, the highest monthly total since records began and more than 25% above the level recorded in June 2025. Trading volumes also increased across most asset classes, with renewed activity in derivatives, foreign exchange and commodity futures, while straight-through processing rates improved to 97.4%, highlighting continued operational efficiency as managers increasingly outsource middle-office functions.
